The Big Ugly comes early

Our opinion: This week’s compromises an a host of big issues fell short on several counts, and we’re left wondering if better results might have come if the Legislature didn’t sacrifice deliberation and transparency for efficiency.

The grand deal that typically marks the end of a state legislative session — known in the Capitol as The Big Ugly — didn’t wait until June this year. It came in March, months before the Legislature will adjourn.

That’s progress for you. We can’t say it’s much prettier.

Once again legislators, like slacker students facing mid-terms, pulled an all-nighter. In doing that, they ignored the intent of a law requiring bills to age on their desks for three days before a vote, except in an emergency.

So what’s the emergency here? The essential task of avoiding public review, perhaps?

The Big Early Ugly featured yet another scrambled passage of some of the most important issues on the state’s agenda. There was no time for citizens — much less lawmakers, some roused from sleep to vote — to fully know what was happening.

All that, one might argue, is form. What about the substance?

It’s a mixed bag.

There’s a redistricting deal that includes a promise to make the process of drawing legislative and congressional lines every 10 years slightly more independent and apolitical — but not until after the 2020 census. The public will get to vote on a constitutional amendment, maybe, if legislators don’t break their promise again, as they have by not implementing reform right now. Just in case, there’s a law that does everything the amendment would, assuming lawmakers don’t figure out a way of reneging on that, too.

For agreeing to delay redistricting reform, it seems — backing off a veto vow he has often repeated — Gov. Andrew Cuomo got a deal on some other objectives.

Thursday’s wee morning hours brought a scaled-back version of Mr. Cuomo’s pension reform proposal. Sharply diminished is the most debatable feature — a 401(k)-style option that would have left public employees who chose it vulnerable in their senior years to the turns of the stock market. The option will be limited to new non-union employees making more than $75,000 a year. Time will tell whether it’s the right choice for those who take it.

The plan makes some reasonable demands of future employees: raising the retirement age by one year and increasing employee pension contributions modestly. Importantly, it requires the state to pay for any sweeteners it adds in the future, a significant mandate relief for local governments.

Might more time for deliberation have produced savings for local governments now, rather than in future years? Hard to say, since there wasn’t time to debate that topic.

There’s a provision to allow more casinos, which the governor says will stimulate economic activity. But with a little more time and thought, the state could have included an assurance to honor existing agreements giving Indian tribes exclusive rights in their regions on slot machines. That might have freed up $400 million in gambling revenue that the Seneca Indian Nation has withheld in a disagreement with the state.

We’ll also see an expansion of the state’s DNA databank to include most penal law crimes, a good tool for law enforcement. While the bill also gives defendants new vehicles to argue for their innocence, it doesn’t include other changes supported by many legislators that could have made our justice system more fair.

Why, one has to wonder, did all this need to be rushed? Why not give the public a chance to learn what’s in all these deals before the die is cast?

Some would argue that delay opens the door to lobbyists and special interests. When money and pressure are brought to bear, deals sometimes fall apart.

Fair enough. But in a time when digital technology enables all citizens to be more informed and connected than ever, delay also could offer an opportunity for ordinary folks to have a voice in legislation that affects their lives and their wallets.

Yes, that depth of democracy can be messy. But a lot of us think there’s a certain beauty in that.